Petrelis Files

Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
The New York Times
New York, NY

Dear Mr. Sulzberger,

The Times over the years has paid special attention to HIV and AIDS issues in San Francisco. Often, the paper has reported on increases of new full-blown AIDS cases and at the height of the epidemic, the high number of deaths due to AIDS.

Today I wish to bring to your attention the dramatic plummeting of AIDS deaths here, as documented in the San Francisco Department of Public Health's quarterly AIDS surveillance reports, especially the first quarter summaries, which I hope are of keen interest to Times editors and reporters.

Here are the numbers of first quarter AIDS deaths for the past eight years:

2004 = 8
2003 = 37
2002 = 23
2001 = 56
2000 = 30
1999 = 52
1998 = 48
1997 = 87
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

As you can see, for the first time in almost a decade, the number of deaths from AIDS in San Francisco has fallen into the single-digits.

This positive development of people with AIDS apparently living longer is something the Times and other media outlets should report on.

It's not just the first quarter surveillance reports that show steep drops of AIDS deaths, but also the annual mortality statistics continue to spiral downward.

The reasons behind the declining AIDS death rate should be explored by both reporters and officials at the San Francisco health department.

Are less people with AIDS dying because of drugs to control the disease and the opportunistic infections associated with it? Could the drop be due to less people contracting HIV? Maybe fewer HIV positive persons are progressing to full-blown AIDS status?

And let's not rule out other factors, such as alternative healing practices, that play an important part in keeping AIDS patients alive.

I'd send this email directly to your science editor, Rick Flaste, but can't since he doesn't have a public email address, so ask that you share this with him.

In my opinion, now is the perfect time for the Times to examine and report on San Francisco's current HIV infection rate, number of AIDS cases, and AIDS mortality figures.

Regards,

Michael Petrelis
San Francisco, CA

Sources:
1. 2004 1st quarter report
2. 2003 1st quarter report
3. 2002 1st quarter report
4. 2001 1st quarter report
5. 2000 1st quarter report
6. 1999 1st quarter report
7. March 1998 report; Not on line
8. March 1997 report; Not on line
(See Table 9 in each report.)